Pine View principal throws first pitch at Trop

He wanted to learn ballroom dance and to run a marathon, things he put on his bucket list a few years ago.

On Saturday, Pine View School Principal Steve Largo crossed another item off his list.

In Tropicana Field, he rode the elevator down to the field. A lady looked at Largo and cheerfully asked if he was singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Nope.

He was throwing the first pitch.

“You must throw a strike. You have to throw a strike,” the woman, suddenly full of advice, told him.

“No pressure,” replied Largo.

Largo, wearing Lee jeans and a collared Rays shirt, reached the right floor and headed onto the field, holding his wife's hand.

He eyed his competition, a teenager who was throwing out a ceremonial first pitch, too.

“With my luck, he's probably an all-star high school no-hitter,” Largo joked to his wife, Patty Largo, an eighth-grade McIntosh Middle School teacher.

Only the kid wasn't.

Ian Ludden had achieved a perfect score on his SATs. He was a student who would likely attend the Pine View School for gifted students, where Largo is retiring this summer after 25 years.

For Largo, there was plenty of support among the crowd.

Parent Laura Oettinger stopped behind home plate to wish him luck.

“I'm so excited it's here,” she said to him.

In a competition involving all Sarasota County schools, Pine View parents and teachers purchased the most tickets to Saturday's game. The prize was picking the person to throw out the first pitch. They chose Largo because they knew all about his bucket list and how he made it in 2010 to teach his students about setting goals.